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Southwest Airlines Flys Into Atlanta

CHICAGO - APRIL 05: A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-3H4 passenger jet prepares to land at Midway Airport on April 5, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois. Southwest Airlines said it finished inspecting its grounded 737-300 series planes and of the nearly 80 planes five of them have cracks in the aluminum skin. The inspections come after Southwest Flight 812 had to make an emergency landing when a piece of its fuselage skin was torn while on its way from Phoenix to Sacramento. The discovery prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing to require emergency inspections on a portion of the 737 fleet manufactured during the 1980s and 1990s for the same fatigue cracks in the fuselage like the ones on the Southwest jets. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

ATLANTA (AP) – It’s official! Southwest Airlines has launched its service in Atlanta after years of eyeing the area. The Dallas-based discounter began its first flights from Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Sunday.

The airline has had its sights on this area for years, but the expansion came only through its buyout of AirTran Airways, which based much of its operations in Atlanta. The airline is beginning 15 daily flights from Atlanta with routes to Austin, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver and Houston.

For now, AirTran will continue with about 170 daily flights from Atlanta. But Southwest will begin gradually absorbing the airline’s jets into its own fleet.